Ryan Bates is the spokesman for AIR: “We are not just making a political statement for many folks – this will be a personal statement about their family.”

Hassan Jaber, executive director of Dearborn-based ACCESS, says changes are needed: “There are families that are being kept separate … for more than seven years … and these are the ones that have a legal right to come.”

Jaber says the system is broken for these immigrants.

Congressman Gary Peters attended the rally and added, “It will make us stronger economically, it will make us stronger morally, it is the right thing to do.”